I had a heck of a time trying to get @kyle_emerick’s Marvel Calendar to print at anything more than 6". It would hang on “processing your design” every time. Using the same vector SVG, scaled below 6" it was fine, but above 6", it would crash the GFUI. GF support claimed they couldn’t handle the extra processing, which I’d have to argue is pretty lame! If the work area is 11x19.5, I want to be able to use it all at once! But I digress. To get around this issue, I split the design up into three separate sections, using techniques described here: https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/38298/how-do-i-use-pathfinder-on-multiple-objects
Uploaded here is the result. Note that I removed Spider Man and replaced him with a friend of mine, so you may not want to print this one yourself; it’s really just to illustrate the idea.
If you’re careful about not moving the workpiece, you can run the print as three separate jobs and get around the GF size limitation. This technique might be useful to those of you looking to make larger creations. This size problem only seems to affect vector images; I could convert to raster and print any size, but the quality of the raster engrave is considerably lower than the vector output (regardless of all different raster resolution and engrave settings I tried.)
Here’s a time-lapse of engraving the lid of a laptop with this design. Thanks Kyle!
